Iran, Azerbaijan to discuss expansion of co-op
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijani Minister of Communications and High Technologies Ali Abbasov will visit Iran on June 17.
This was announced at a meeting of the Azerbaijani minister with Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayin, the Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan reported.
Abbasov will pay a visit to the neighbor country at the invitation of the Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mahmoud Vaizi.
The visit will last two days, and within its framework expansion of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran in the field of communication and information technologies, as well as prospects for its development will be discussed.
Furthermore, Abbasov and Vaizi will discuss the expansion of cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries in the field of ICT, the expansion of ties in the field of radio and television, as well as the expansion of cooperation of the ministries in the international arena.
The topical issues of the meeting will also be the deepening of ties between Azerbaijan and Iran within the Economic Cooperation Organization and its expansion in the field of information security.
Azerbaijan and Iran have had diplomatic relations since 1918. Iran recognized Azerbaijan's independence in 1991, and diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992.
Data from the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan shows that trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $281.03 million in 2013, which is 6.13 percent higher than 2012. The figure stood at $263.785 million in 2012.
Iran imported $73.347 million worth of goods from Azerbaijan in 2013, while its exports to Azerbaijan stood at $207.683 million during the same period.
Iran's trade turnover with Azerbaijan in the first eleven months of 2013 stood at $470 million ($448 million exports and $22 million imports), Iran's customs administration's latest report shows.